2. Discovery
Elizabeth woke up. She was in an ornate four-poster double bed. There were cushions all around her and the quilt was made of the softest material she had ever felt. She sat up and saw the room she was in. It was large and beautiful. There was a pair of huge bay windows looking out over the town of Volterra.
Then she remembered. Her grip on the quilt increased. Shakily she got out of the bed and walked over to the window. She tried to open it but it was shut fast. Besides, there was a huge drop down to the street below. She tried banging on the window in the hope of getting someone's attention but nobody looked up to her window, as high as it was.
She took a step back, both physically and mentally. What the hell was she going to do? The lead vampire, Aro she recalled was his name, had wanted her to join them. But that meant becoming a vampire. She sat back down on the bed and put her hand to her forehead.
That meant becoming immortal, living forever. Sure that sounded good, but would it really be all that good. She had read lots of books and stories in which immortality wasn't all that brilliant: it was always the villains who became immortal and lost their humanity in the process. She didn't want to lose her humanity! And then there was that thirst for human blood. She didn't want to be a killer – she was a good person, or at least tried to be. She couldn't kill someone to satisfy her own thirst. It was so impossible to think about: becoming an immortal murderer.
A vampire.
She shuddered. How long would it take Aro to realise that she wasn't going to change her mind on this, she wondered. And then what would her do? Kill her, said the realistic part of her mind, or turn her anyway. He might let her go... maybe... if he was feeling nice about it...? No, deep down she had got the feeling of what sort of person he was. He wouldn't let her go, not in a million years (which he probably had) would he do that.
She was as good as dead... or immortal. Depending on what they decided in the end. So what should she do? Elizabeth looked about the room. Her clothes were nowhere to be seen. She was wearing a cotton night shift that they had given her to sleep in. There was no way she could go out wearing just that.
On the chair by the dressing table was a dark blue dress. Was this all there was? She sighed, they were the controlling sort as well, it would seem. She slipped into the dress and then discovered her trainers under the chair. She put them on and stood up. Well, she thought to herself as she looked in the floor length mirror, clothes really weren't the biggest problem here.
Elizabeth walked over to the huge white door. It had a gold handle. She pushed the handle down and pulled open the door. It wasn't locked and she was able to walk out into the hallway. She stood in the hallway for a moment, unsure what to do. Then she heard soft footsteps coming towards her, muffled slightly by the red carpet running down the centre of the hall.
She turned her head. It was the younger vampire, Caius. He was staring at her with little to no emotion on his beautiful face.
"Won't you join us?" He asked, suddenly, his voice soft and low and wonderful, "We're in the library today. Aro thought you might like to see it. It has the largest collection of ancient texts in the whole world. When the great library at Alexandria was destroyed during the Seige, my brothers and I managed to salvage a lot of the more valuable manuscripts."
"Really," Elizabeth said, completely blown away; the destruction of such a wonderful library had always irritated her and to think that the Volturi had some of the texts astounded her, "That's..." She trailed off. The Siege of Alexandria took place in 48 BC: "But then how old are you?" She asked, staring at him in awe. She had felt they were old but that old. And Caius looked so young.
"Over three millennia," he answered nonchalantly, "You lose count."
Elizabeth stared at him: she had though hundreds of years, of course, maybe a thousand at a push. But three thousand! That was a long time – and yet he looked so young.
"How old were you when you were turned?" She asked, he didn't look older than thirty for sure.
"I was twenty-six," he said, "I can hardly remember though. It was so long ago." He looked at her and then smiled. It was strange to see him smile: he had looked so angry before. All she could do was stare at him, her head slightly to one side.
"It's strange," he continued, "No one's ever asked me my age in a long time. But you have." He turned to look out of the window opposite, his smile slipping away, "Will you join us?"
"No," Elizabeth said, "I couldn't imagine living like that. Through so much and yet being so distanced from it all." He looked at her, a strange emotion on his face, it looked almost as if he were in pain. But when he spoke, he was quite in control of his voice.
"Won't you come with me to the library Elizabeth?" He asked, "Aro and Marcus are waiting."
She nodded and cautiously took the arm he offered. Even below his sleeve, she could feel the coldness of his skin.
"Is that a consequence of being immortal," she asked quietly as they walked down the hallway, "Cold skin?"
"Yes," he replied and said no more.
"What's it like being immortal?" She asked, curious as she always was, "I mean, can you even make long lasting bonds with other people?"
"I have a wife," he replied, a smirk on his lips, "If that's what you're asking."
"No," Elizabeth said, "I didn't mean it like that... I don't care if... I'm just curious!"
"I know," Caius said, "But you're right, in what you're really asking. It's hard after living for so long to find things to say to one another. Athenodora and I have never really been intimate like that for almost three thousand years. We've made love but there's nothing between us, not anymore."
"That's sad," Elizabeth said, "That's really sad. Why do you go on living if..." She trailed off. His face had hardened.
"I would never choose such a cowardly escape," his voice was like ice, "Just because my wife and I aren't intimate doesn't mean I don't have relationships with others. Aro and Marcus are my brothers and I would never abandon them in such a way."
"Of course" Elizabeth said, "I shouldn't have said that. I suppose I don't really understand." He turned to look at her, a frown on his forehead.
"You understand better than most mortals," he said, looking at her intently, "How is that?"
"I don't think I do," Elizabeth said. She paused then went on, "I've always been able to see things from other people's point of view I suppose." Caius gave her a half glance.
"You realise that that is why we'd want you to join," he said, "Once we've turned you, you have the potential to have some sort of gift – like Aro."
"He read my mind, didn't he?" She said, glumly. Caius looked over to her.
"There's no reason to be so upset by it," he told her, "If he hadn't then you'd be dead."
"Perhaps that would've been simpler," Elizabeth said, "For everyone."
"Perhaps," Caius said, but he didn't seem convinced by it. He led her down a flight of stairs and then they stopped their walk by a set of double doors. Caius tapped on the door and it was opened from the inside.
Elizabeth let out a gasp. It was huge. Books lined every single wall and shelves split the room into individual areas with tables and chairs for reading. There were no windows and the light was a red glow from the lamps dotted around the room. There were shelves full of scrolls, no doubt from the ancient library of Alexandria, and books whose bindings were wider than a piece of paper.
"Good morning, Elizabeth," said Aro. He and Marcus were sitting at a table, with several open scrolls in front of them, "Won't you join us?" He asked.
Elizabeth hesitated. More than anything, she wanted to see the scrolls but would it be as if she were giving in? No, she thought to herself, they won't turn me into a vampire just because I want to look at these ancient texts. So she went over to them. The scroll in front of Aro was actually papyrus and had hieroglyphic symbols on it.
"What does it say?" She asked. Elizabeth could read some ancient languages like Latin and ancient Greek, but not the hieroglyphic writing of the Egyptians.
"It talks of the Persian conquest of Egypt," Aro said, "Though it embellishes some of the details."
"How do you..." Elizabeth trailed off. She had been about to ask how he knew this, but then remembered the whole age thing. The three immortals she was in the library with were ancient. She swallowed and tried to suppress a shiver.
"We were in Greece at the time," Caius told her as he came to sit down at the table, Elizabeth now the only one standing, "But when we heard of the fall of the Egyptian pharaohs we visited."
"Was it very different," Elizabeth asked, curious beyond control, "So far back?"
"On the surface perhaps," said Aro, "But humans haven't changed much. Basic instincts are the same." He exchanged a knowing look with Caius whose lip curled into a wry smile. Elizabeth noticed this and felt very much an outsider. These three shared three thousand years worth of inside jokes and shared experiences.
Remembering that there were in fact three of them, Elizabeth turned to Marcus, who was staring at a scroll with that same passive expression on his face.
"What was their name?" She asked, her hand resting on the back of the opposite chair to him.
Aro and Caius looked up at her. Aro was frowning whilst Caius looked intrigued, his lips slightly parted and his eyebrows raised. There was none of that usual anger on his face. Marcus slowly tore his eyes away from the scroll he was looking at, an Ancient Greek text.
"Didyme," he seemed to breathe her name and a look of such bittersweet longing appeared on his face that Elizabeth was almost reduced to tears.
"I..." But she had nothing to say.
"She was my sister," Aro said, cutting through the emotion with a cold statement, "She had the power to make those in her presence immensely happy."
"She could have had anyone," Marcus said, his voice soft and gentle, "So many loved her, but she chose me." Even after all the pain he had gone through his last few words contained a hint of astonishment. He was smiling but it slowly disappeared of his face to be replaced by an intense pain.
"How long has it been?" Elizabeth asked, trying to keep her voice steady, but failing.
"Almost three millennia," Marcus said, any emotion now completely gone from his voice. He turned back to looking at his scroll.
Elizabeth wiped the tears from her face. She knew what it was like to lose someone you loved: she herself was an orphan. But she had never really known her parents, not like Marcus who must've known Didyme as well as he knew himself. And Elizabeth had only lived with missing her parents for twenty years whilst for Marcus... three thousand years was a length of time impossible to imagine, even without such terrible grief.
She turned to see Caius looking at her. The emotion on his face made her pause for breath. She couldn't quite work out what the emotion was but it was intense, very intense.
She realised she was shaking and turned to leave. This was all too much. They killed people to survive. They were murderers. They were vampires and yet only Aro seemed to lack true emotion. How could that be? They had all lived so long and yet they still had the capacity of such strong emotions.
As soon as she had closed the door behind her, she let out a shaky sigh and leant against the wall, raising a hand to her face. Her cheeks were wet from tears.
A/N: Okay so yeah - Elizabeth is a smart arse. She can read Latin and Ancient Greek. I think that's just because she loves stories and there are so many ancient tales told in Latin and Greek. It gives her the ability to read them.
Also, she may be coming across as taking to all of it very casually. Well, she has this 'gift' called understanding. She's deep and open-minded so that's why. Though maybe she needs a little more shock? Hmm...
Well anyway - I hope you enjoyed it and review? maybe... ? :D